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03 May, 2011

Guilty Pleasures

by Tom McConville

Full disclosure. I tend - even at 41 years of age - to still see things as black and white. There's really never been a gray area when it comes to my likes and dislikes. My likes- in no particular order - include: Steve Martin. Any Gatti/Ward fight. Tootsie Rolls. Water parks. Former Met Edgardo Alfonso. Taylor ham. Dislikes include: Progressive Insurance spokeswoman Flo. Coconut. Cranes. People driving with dogs on their laps. Heat rash.

I bring this up because there are a few things that I know I shouldn't like and yet, I kinda do. You know, guilty pleasures as the kids say. So here's a few of mine. Feel free to add on or tell us some of yours. If you're not sure you want to divulge such potentially embarrassing secrets, don't worry. The ones I'm throwing out below should make you feel pretty good about your choices forevermore.

GP #1: Y&T "Summertime Girls" - hair band extraordinaire, I remember this tune back when a.) I had hair and b.) when my hairstyle made me look like Ricky Schroeder during the "Silver Spoons" era.

GP #2: Roberto Cabanas goal. So I played soccer my entire life. Even went to college for it. Loved playing it. Watching it? Different story. I'd rather sit through the duration of Henry Kissinger reading the unabridged book on tape of "Ulysses" than watch a soccer game. But this goal has been a YouTube staple for many years. It's almost 30 years old for crying out loud and I've still never seen anything like it.

GP #3: Paula Abdul "Rush Rush" I am not one of the 76,908,341 people on this earth who thinks Paula Abdul is bat-guano crazy. I'm one of the 28,190,845 people who finds her to be incredibly annoying. So I take no pride in saying this song gets to me - not for the lyrics, not for her singing and certainly not for the Keanu Reeves appearance. It's the stupid violins that get to me every time.

GP #4: "Richie Says Goodbye" Two things. Happy Days had long seen better days when they aired this. The shark tank - and the subsequent jumping of it - were at least two seasons prior. But I remember getting dusty watching this at an age where I should have known better. And I distinctly remember thinking it would be a brilliant piece of television if this was the exact time Chuck Cunningham - Richie's older brother for the first 6 episodes - showed up. Even now, all I can say is, Damn you Henry Winkler.